Bill Clinton Helps Launch Search Engine

[Moloch]

NEW YORK - Former president Bill Clinton (news - web sites) on Monday helped launch a new Internet search company backed by the Chinese government which says its technology uses artificial intelligence to produce better results than Google Inc.

"I hope you all make lots of money," Clinton told executives at the launch of Accoona Corp., which donated an undisclosed amount to the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The Chinese government, one of several large backers, has granted Accoona a 20-year exclusive partnership with the China Daily Information Co., the government agency that runs an official Chinese and English Web site.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&ncid=738&e=1&u=/ap/20041207/ap_on_hi_te/clinton_search_engine

[Catherine Vincent]

1. "I hope you all make lots of money"

Spoken like a true Democrat! Unlike a republican that would say something like "I hope you all make lots of money (and give some of it to me!)".

But you know the freakfreepers will whine about this saying that Clinton has always been tight with the Chinese.

[katmondoo]

7. What about Neil's ties with China

and Marvin? Poppy too. Now they will all be pissed off again with Clinton for taking something they consider as their territory. Maybe Clinton pulled off a big one right under their noses. I hope so.

[papau]

13. Haley Barber 1996 boat off red china coast picking up pledges via

US subs of Red Army corporations.

But who remembers that in the media.

[merh]

30. Do you have any links, he is my gov now

and I can't stand the evil thing. I would love to have a link so I can keep it with my file on Babar the Elephink! :puke:

[Tangledog]

16. You're accusing them of thinking

And of having moral standards.

But hell, having Clinton endorse a search engine backed by the Chinese government, that doesn't sit real great with me.

a) Don't Americans do this kind of stuff any more?

b) If Americans don't do this, how about some people who have a more reliable record about intellectual freedom than the Chinese government?

Big Dawg doesn't have to answer to me, but I can't help feeling ambiguous at best about this venture.

edited for grammar

[progressoid]

28. I'm feeling even less than ambiguous - more like uneasy

[TheDebbieDee]

10. You read my mind, Cat_Girl, about what the freepers would say...

about Clinton being so tight with the Chinese.

[msgadget]

22. Not much because

the Chinese are only evil if a Dem talks to them. Check out this article:

>US rejects fair-trade case against China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-04-29 15:11

The Bush administration announced Wednesday that it has decided against launching unfair trade investigations into China's currency practices and alleged violations of labor rights.

While announcing the decision, officials said that the US government had a better approach to get China to change its trade practices than threatening to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports into the United States.

The decision means that a complaint filed by organized labor in early March will not be accepted by the administration. The union movement had sought the imposition of tariffs of as much as 77 percent on Chinese products, charging that China was brutally repressing worker rights.

At the same time, the administration also announced that it will not look favorably on a case that American manufacturers have considered filing against China's currency policy. US manufacturers contend that China's practice of linking its currency to the dollar has undervalued the Chinese currency by as much as 40 percent, giving Chinese manufacturers a huge competitive advantage against US companies. <

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-04/29/content_327372.htm

[KittyWampus]

23. Commie Spy Katrina Leung Was A Huge GOP Funder & Tight With CA

GOP politicos.

Plus she was fucking the FBI agent that harassed Gore for no apparent reason (they never found anything to use against him.

[tk2kewl]

2. i just tried it

and it still hasnt returned a result to my search

[tk2kewl]

3. still nothing

:shrug:

[tk2kewl]

4. still nothing

:shrug:

[tk2kewl]

5. i think www.accoona.com sucks

still no response :shrug:

[realFedUp]

6. but I bet they've followed you here....

the last thing this world needs
is more "artificial intelligence".

[billbuckhead]

9. Why would I want the Commies to know what I'm searching for and my

web address.I bet they could find out even more if I engage in internet commerce based on the searches. Talk about spyware. I'm off the Clintons. I used to think they were the last good Republicans but lately I've changed my mind. Globalized capitalism hasn't been a good thing. This Acoona thing coming on the heals of IBM possibly selling it's PC-laptop business to the Chinese just reeks of insanity on the part of American leadership.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Accoona matata!

Patience!

[TheDebbieDee]

11. LOL!

[merwin]

12. Does this engine "filter" out chinese banned websites? n/t

[AllyCat]

19. That's what I'm wondering

After the Chinese government expressed its concern today over internet use that "exploits" them.

Why, WHY??? do both major parties continue to do business with a country that has a horrible human rights record, suppresses religious freedom, illegally attacked and continues to occupy Tibet, and threatens our economy daily?

Can anyone explain this to me?

[Liberty Belle]

14. Site's down. Can someone try this?

Run a check on key phrases like "John Kerry" or "voting fraud+"Bush"
and see what the top 10 hits are. I'm wondering if Clinton was shrewd enough to create a web search engine that's less biased than the big ones here, which mostly steered searchers to pro-GOP information.

[NYC Liberal]

27. I searched John Kerry:

On Google, GOP.com was the 3rd result down.

On Accoona, there were no Rethug websites on the first page.

[Liberty Belle]

31. sounds promising. Clever Bill!

[NYC Liberal]

34. Yeah, but...

A search for "china human rights abuses" turned up nothing relevant on the first page.

Google turned up plenty.

[Liberty Belle]

35. bummer.

[trackfan]

15. It said my wife's website made $25-75 million a year

and had 20-49 employees. I wish!

[Az_lefty]

17. Tried searching on "what makes a basketball bounce"

and it returned nothing about physics, kinetic energy, gravity, air pressure....nothing. Google worked much better.
:shrug:

[saracat]

18. I don't like this at all. And why is he taking money from them?

Things are getting most peculiar. China is rife with human rights violations and we not only outsource to them but publicaly kiss their butt? Why? I am sorry. I really used to like Bill Clinton, but he delivered " another don't whine speech" yesterday, and now this? He certainly doesn't feel our pain anymore! What is wrong with him? Maybe he is having a personality change as a result of the surgery. They say that can happen.

[AllyCat]

20. Bill has always taken money from them.

They all do it. That is one of the reasons I do not see Bill as such a great guy. Nuns and monks in China and Tibet do not give lots of money to a political campaign in the U.S. They just don't, particularly when the Chinese gov't has suppressed their Buddhist religion.

[msgadget]

21. This is what I got

when I searched 'china fair trade'

http://www.accoona.com/search?col=mc&qt=china+fair+trade

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. This first sentence is a smear job.

It's not a commie cell, it's an IT company that happens to have a business deal with China, like many other companies do.

Will we see similar phrasing when the R's get publicly cozy with Wal-Mart?

[Cookie wookie]

25. On the surface

this seems to suck. Not sure how, on obtaining more information, it could not suck. If the idea is to infiltrate Chinese society by doing business with them and turning them into capitalists, well that sucks too. For one thing, the Chinese have been around a lot longer than us, invented literally everything, and like the man said, have a failing record on human rights. So who is going to end up dominating whom in this deal?

Are all our politicians now in a rush to sell out our country to the highest bidder?

Note: I worked on both Clinton campaigns (at the local level) and voted for Clinton. I defended Clinton in the impeachment debacle. But this kind of ends my loyalty to him. My loyalty is to democratic freedom, now I question where his now lies.

[VegasWolf]

26. China, worlds number 1 importer and exporter. Number 1

supplier of monies for american mortgage companies.
China smart enough to dump 300 billion in american
treasury notes last year and increase euro holdings.
US proud, distant number 2. Thanks Georgie porgie.

[Merlin]

29. DISTORTION. The NYT points out clearly Clinton did not ENDORSE.

He said he was there "to give a speech, not a pitch."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/technology/07search.html?oref=login

Clinton Calls Appearance a Speech, Not a Pitch
By SAUL HANSELL

Published: December 7, 2004

It may not have been the same as Bob Dole pitching Viagra, but Bill Clinton gave a speech yesterday that helped draw attention to a new product.

Mr. Clinton appeared last night at Tavern on the Green in New York as part of the introduction of an Internet search engine called Accoona. He spoke for about 10 minutes about the Internet and public policy.

Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton, said that the former president considered the appearance a speaking engagement, not a product endorsement.

Mr. Clinton, whose appearances can cost as much as $125,000 each, has made speeches in the past at events sponsored by private companies, but "as a matter of policy, President Clinton does not promote products and he has no plans to," Mr. Kennedy said.

[BrightKnight]

32. The business profile search was not bad. I hope he cashed the check.

Somebody needs to light a fire under Google’s butt. The Google advanced search feature is pathetic.

[Catherine Vincent]

36. Thanks for the clarification.

Love the big dog.

[Democracy Died 2004]

33. My companys search engine is better.

But good to see Big Dawg out an about. Lord what has become of us?

[VegasWolf]

38. and your company is? n/t

[hinachan]

37. It's OK, I guess....

My anime web site was the #1 non-sponsored result for fan sites of that series. My two TV-related fan sites ranked third and seventh, respectively, which is actually better than Google (which bumped one of those sites of mine down considerably, with uninformative results like forum posts asking "Where are they now?" and stuff about one of the ladies' older sisters--in other words, not as specific as Google results should be.

I'm not giving up on Google as a result of this, but I'll probably include this new search engine as ONE OF the other engines I use, in addition to Google, not in place of it.

Still, I wish it weren't "backed by the Chinese government", for obvious reasons....

[VegasWolf]

39. Of course! Best wishes to you! n/t

edit typo

[darkism]

40. No hits for my search either

try it yourself